The Abernathy brothers, Louis and Temple, lived in Oklahoma and were the children of cowboy and US marshal Jack Abernathy. Louis was known as Bud and Temple went by Temp. Without any adult supervision, the brothers took several cross-country trips and became celebrities at the time.
Their first adventure was in 1909 when they rode from Frederick, Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico by horseback at the ages of 9 and 5! After returning home, they began to plan a second cross-country trip to New York. They wanted to meet Theodore Roosevelt who would be returning from a trip to Africa and Europe.
So, in 1910 the boys rode from Oklahoma to Manhattan by themselves and were greeted like celebrities. They were even in a ticker-tape parade following right behind the car Roosevelt was in.
The boys were propositioned a challenge in 1911 to ride from New York to San Francisco in just 60 days. They agreed to not sleep or eat indoors during the journey and if they succeeded, they’d get $10,000 as a prize. They managed to make the trip in just 62 days, lost the prize money, but set a record for the time elapsed on making the trip.